BUTLER TWP — For Seneca Valley, it's 10 years and possibly counting.

For Butler, the Eagle Traveling Trophy “is a big deal,” Golden Tornado football coach Rob Densmore said.

“This school and this community deserve to have a good football team, a good season,” Densmore said. “Bringing that trophy back to the school with us would be a nice thing.”

Butler (1-1, 0-1) travels to Seneca Valley (0-2, 0-1) to take on the Raiders Friday night at NexTier Stadium. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.

The Butler Eagle Traveling Trophy is presented to the winning team on the field after the game. Butler has not received the trophy since posting a 14-0 win in 2006.

Since then, Seneca Valley has reeled off 10 straight wins in the series by an average margin of 20.5 points. Only twice during that time has the Tornado kept the final deficit in single digits.

Seneca Valley leads the overall series between the teams, 17-15, including a 42-6 victory last year.

So far this year, the Raiders have scored only 15 points, dropping decisions of 13-8 to Peters Township and 42-7 to Pine-Richland.

“I attribute their offensive problems so far to the caliber of teams they've played,” Densmore said. “They have a young quarterback (sophomore Gabe Lawson) who will keep getting better each week. He's an athlete and he's dangerous.

“Seneca has nice size up front and they run a lot of mis-direction. That's responsibility football. Every player on defense has to do his job every play. They do a lot of different alignments and formations.”

Speaking of getting better, Butler did a bit of that itself last week. The Tornado rushed for 283 yards in their 45-28 win over Altoona.

Luke Michalek rushed for 149 yards, John Michalek for 60 and John Ryan Herold 53.

“When the runner actually sees a hole in front of him when he gets the ball, it's all about running downhill from there,” Densmore said. “Our backs did run hard, but backs tend to run more aggressively when they're getting through holes like that.”

Butler's offensive line features Nate Cornibe and Sam Enslen at tackle, Jake Kradel and Darrin Skidmore at guard, Trevor Moore at center and Nick Stazer at tight end.

“Darrin is all of about 160 pounds,” Densmore said, chuckling. “He'll bite your ankles if you let him.”

The coach hinted that running against Seneca Valley may present more of a challenge this week.

“Their inside linebackers, (Gabe) Miller and (Jake) Stebbins, are the real deal,” Densmore said. “They roam from sideline to sideline. They cover a lot of ground and plug up holes.

“If we're able to run the ball against that defense, fine, we'll do it. But we have to be prepared to throw the ball, too. We have to be able to do both and that's what we're working on in practice this week.”

Brandon Fleeger attempted only six passes against Altoona — none in the second haldf — and has thrown for 74 yards and no touchdowns in two games.

The Tornado played without fullback-linebacker Logan Dubyak (toe injury) last week and his return is doubtful this week. Halfback-safety Kyler Callihan suffered a fractured leg in the season opener at Penn Hills and will be sidelined three or four weeks.

“We may get (receiver-safety) Dan Kline back from a knee injury this week,” Densmore said. “Besides that, our guys should be ready to go.”